The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-06-30
\ A SPANISH CEMETERY.

Funerals in Spain are conducted in a
INNER which is in the highest degree
ginal. says a writer in the London
fierce. When you die you are got rid
oNas soon as possible. The Spaniards
havc\he same horror of death sur
roundiilys AS Italians, but they go q
great deA, further. As quickly as pos
sible-somctimes within an hour-tlie
body is 0lac't within an elaborate
coffin made of metal and painted to
imitatc marble Some # these ''cask-
ets' &c smothered u gilt ornaments
of most elaborate character. All
sizes ere kcpi ready ~ the great fune-
raj estahlh hmeufs The collins open
lcntrhwiso The lid is on hinges and
is locked With . key. The poorer
people ~ buried in wooden collins,
covered with various desings in color
ed ribbons. Children's coffin are made
! in whDe and blue, and are decorated
| like a, bonbon box. Collins of this de-
Ascrlplon are sold almost anywhere in
The sbuth. You see them hanging up
inside the shops by dozens.
VDnt over the premises of one of
1.-The ggest undertaking concerns in
1t is public company and is
La Funeraria." | never saw
hagnificence in my life. Some
Q funeral cars are built in the style
Ie great gilt and glass cars which
RE in o circus procession through
1,.s.
h are dressed in gorgeous liveries
at makes you blink to look at them.
ome of the liveries that was shown
bst over 81, 900 each. These positively
lazed with gold. A grand first-class
funeral with retinue of footmen and
officials is dazzling pageant.
As rule the corpse, even when so
ymagnificently conducted to its last
| home. is unattended by any relatives.
| Spaniards finish with their dead, as a
rule. when the church ceremony is over.
Few corpses are accompanied to the
.cemetry, except by the undertaker's
mon. But in ordinary cases the coffin
is placed in yellow open car and driv-
On up to the cemetry by gentleman in
a short jacket and peaked cap. The
driver smokes his cigarette and cracks
his whip rs he huns his favorite tune
The ridiculous always lives next door
to the sublime The grotesque and the
horrible are first cousins
/ will describe two that | witnessed
In one day at the great cemetery at
6eville. Four little barefooted boys ar
i've at the cemetery gates. Between
nt,a hat a. tul,i IN.
pffir. They jog along, chatting and
ughing, up the long avenue of trees
Presently they see something which
attracts their attention. bird in
| tree. They pick up stones and begin
Ito throw at the bird. In the process
they quarrel about something. and two
of the boys have fight. In the mean
time the coffin lies in the roadway. i
walk up to it, and through the glass
lot into the lid see the dead child's
face. 1t has been dead perhaps twelve
hours, so the features are unchanged
aud it appears to be calmly sleeping
Several people pass me; no one takes
any notice of the coffin in the road.
One old gentleman nearly tumbles over
it and swears. 1t is evidently nothing
unusual.
Presently these ragged boys have ar
ranged their little difference, return
and pick up the coffin. Two of them
have lighted cigarettes. They carry
their burden right across the cemetery
70 little house. where two or three
men with brass numbers on their caps
lare smoking cigarettes. Here they
show n paner and one of the man
|pcking. up. spade, tells the boys
to follow him. Of they 60. jogging the
koffin now this way now that, aud
follow them.
We come to long line of brick
Vaults. Some are empty; some are
hlled up TO the top with what presume
to be mold. The grave-digger turns
bver the loose earth with his spade, and
ktrikes q coffin here and there. 1t is
20 full. He moves on 10 another
Kicked square, pushes his spade in,
I'd says there is just room. He digs a
e hole and lays the coffin flush with
top of the brick work. Then he
VS. few spadefuls of earth from a
nd close by, and the ceremony
over. There are thousands of these
cked squares in he cemetery, and
oh contains score of collins. There
mo stone over the top, only the loose
own earth. Some of them are so full
lat the earth has to be piled up to
pyer the coffin. and thus the coffin is
ctuahy above ground.
The next funeral arrived as l was
aving the cemetery. A car, driven